The Lady Bears moved senior Kaitlin Hogeman to forward and Georgia signee Caroline Simpson from midfield to the backfield. Despite a dislocated left kneecap, Hogemann broke the Lady Bears' drought less than four minutes into the second half.

"We moved Caroline back so we could move three up and generate more offense," Steinmann said. "She is good enough to do the work of two people."

Steinmann said Hogemann was in no danger of hurting her knee worse, but playing through the pain was "the epitome of sacrifice."

"They did exactly what I told them not to do and let them score on some silly mistake in the first 10 minutes," Athens Academy coach Steve Stewart said. "(The Lady Bears) were good, but not better than us as far as a group."

Two minutes after Holy Innocents' tied the match, Athens Academy freshman Georgia Hawkins punched in a pass sent in by Hannah Gollin and touched by Brett Mills on a set corner-kick play.

MacKenzie Suttles put the Lady Bears (10-5) in the lead for good with 10:45 remaining and added the final blow with 3:44 left.

Lady Spartans junior keeper Claire McDonald recorded 14 saves, and senior Camille Hayes had one. Senior Eleni Herrington nearly tied the game at four with 9:00 minutes left on a breakaway throw-in by freshman Abby Trevino, but keeper Kelly Moore dove and pushed the ball wide left.

Athens Academy (12-6-1) ended its season with 98 goals (26 by O'Rear).

The forward's first goal was punched in from the middle of the box on a pass by Victoria Adams, and she scored her second by tracking down and perfect lead from Trevino.

"Victoria did all the work on that (first) one," O'Rear said. "I was happy to be in a good spot."